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Joint Security Area/JSA (2000)

Director: Park Chan-Wook

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From Time Out Film Guide

An incident in the JSA (the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea) leaves two N Korean border guards dead and one S Korean wounded. The Swiss-Korean woman officer (Lee Young-Ae) heading the neutral enquiry into the skirmish gets nowhere until she stumbles upon a history of secret fraternisation between some of the border guards on both sides. It's decently directed and acted; easy to see why it did better than Shiri in Korea, although it fudges the political questions by casting the ultra-charismatic Song Kang-Ho as the main commie soldier. But the message that all Koreans could get along fine if it wasn't for those pesky ideologies and uniforms doesn't mean a thing outside Korea, and the film is too entranced by all the male bonding to begin to function as an effective mystery.

Author: TR 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

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Cast & crew

Director: Park Chan-Wook

Producer: Lee Eun, Shim Jae-Myung

Cast: Song Kang-Ho, Lee Byung-Heon, Lee Young-Ae, Kim Tae-woo, Shin Ha-Kyun full cast

Duration: 110 mins

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